


Pack Street: Stranded

by EyeOfTheTempest



Series: The Woes Of A Hornless Ram [7]
Category: Pack Street - Fandom, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Bad Decisions, Broken Bone, Gen, Injury, Regret, Stranded, car crashes, forest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-10-15 07:25:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EyeOfTheTempest/pseuds/EyeOfTheTempest
Summary: Remmy finds himself in the middle of the woods inside a wrecked car at night. His only memory of what happened being the car swerving suddenly to one side and him hitting his head.





	1. The Crash

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to make a habit of adding multiple chapters to works instead of just making new ones from now on.
> 
> Also, I'll be adding the 3rd and final chapter to "Ward 001" before I update this, fyi.

"Oooh, Christ, my fucking head."

I'm surprised I manage to even choke half the sentence out as I'm awoken by a sharp jolt of pain through my temple. I blink my eyes a few times to somewhat reduce the stinging sensation. My throat is burning, and my ears are ringing like I've just heard a bomb going off.  
For I all I know, that may not be too far from the truth.   
The wrecked car really isn't helping the case. At least it's not on fire.  
Thankful that the car didn't choose that opportune moment to spite me, I finally begin to get up.  
Or, I try to. I manage to wrestle the seat belt free, only to immediately regret it as I fall from my seat. My sense of gravity kicks in all too late as I flop out of the car and onto the floor outside of it. A quick glance confirms that the car has in fact been flipped over.  
Shit.  
I take a moment to try and clear all the dust from my lungs before getting up. This goes about as well as getting out of the car did, as a sudden, grueling pain throws me off balance from shock. I wrap a hoof around it briefly, but suddenly draw it back as pain shoots through it again. A wave of panic washes over me as I realize what it means.  
My leg is broken.   
Fucking broken. Because that's exactly what I needed right now.  
I flop onto the floor again like a fish as blood begins to leak from a wound in the side of my leg. I wince a little bit, as with a bit of effort, I manage to pull myself up by hanging onto the wrecked car. My leg still hurts, but it's less, and I'm at least off the ground. Wiping some dirt (and a sort of sticky liquid that admittedly seems like blood) from my forehead, I take a brief look around.   
The crash site is surrounded by dense vegetation. Thick bushes, and thicker trees. I look up, but the sky is blocked out by leaves, save for slim beams of moonlight shining in through small gaps.  
Suddenly, a thought begins to somehow overtake my panic, and my pain. A thought not about me at all.  
Dora.  
She was here, too.  
Carefully, I look around again, but I can't seem to see anything else.  
Shit, maybe she's in the car.  
Or maybe she's dead...  
No, no, she's not dead. No way. If I survived, there's no way she's dead.

I lean over to the windshield. Every seat is empty. However, of the doors is busted open.   
Thank fuck, she's got to be here somewhere.  
"H-hello?" I call out, but it's only slightly audible over the ringing in my ears. I stand silently, awaiting a response, but none comes.  
At least, not until a few seconds later. When it hits me, it hits me just like the truck it sounds like. A deep, rumbling noise that causes panic to course through my veins.   
Growling.

Tension begins to build in my legs as I spin in a circle, frantically trying and failing to locate the source of the noise. The struggle to wheeze out breath after breath becomes a sudden battle just to keep myself from asphyxiating. The noise seems to be bouncing off of every tree and shadow, enclosing me in a web of fear. My heart beats like a drum, almost drowning out the noise as I turn, suddenly, to find myself being lept upon by a monstrous figure. Before I can blink, a crushing weight pins me to the ground, and a sudden paw wraps around the front of my muzzle, stifling my cry of fear. The figure above me raises their free claw to their mouth, pressing one finger over their lips.   
"Shhhhh." Their voice urges me, in what can only be an attempt to make my last living moments calmer. I struggle uselessly against their arm as my vision begins to fade.  
I can't breath.   
I need air.  
AIR.  
I pound my hooves against their wrist, each attempt at budging it weaker then the last as the burning in my lungs slowly begins to spread through the rest of my body.   
My eyes must be glazing over, because suddenly my captor seems to realize what's happening. They shift their paw ever so slightly, and free my nostrils in the process.   
Yet somehow, I still find myself unable to breath.   
My will to live overtakes my paralyzing fear, and air finally begins to flood back into my head. The sting lessens, and my vision starts to refocus.   
I'm suddenly able to make out a striped pattern running up the side of the figure's arm.  
"Dora!" I mumble into her paw.   
Slowly, she nods her head. Once she's sure that I'm not about to start screaming, she lets go of me. I can feel myself slowly beginning to calm down, but the initial shock still hasn't quite faded.   
Carefully, I sit up, coughing a bit. A million questions begin to race into the forefront of my mind, but only one is manifested in the form of a shaky groan.   
"Where are we?"   
"There's no time." She whispers, standing up. There's a hint of worry in her voice, which really isn't helping the mood. "We have to go. Now."   
She turns and begins to head deeper into what I'm pretty sure is some sort of forest or jungle, only to stop when she realizes I'm not following.  
"My leg." I croak. "It's broken."   
The tiger swears under her breath before rushing back over and scooping me up in one easy motion. "Dora what the hell is going on!?" I whisper as she vaults over a fallen tree, sprinting deeper into the woods.  
"I don't know!" She responds, checking over her shoulder. I peek around her arm to find the silhouette of a somewhat short animal standing by the wreck. They hold up something in their hands before pointing it at us. I realize what it is just in time to duck as some sort of projectile whizzes past us by a centimeter.   
Odd, it didn't sound like a bullet.  
"What do you mean you don't know!?" I snap back a bit louder than before. Another one flies over our heads, hitting a tree branch as Pandora ducks under it.  
"I mean, they ran us off the fucking road and now they're shooting at us! What am I supposed to just stop and politely ask their names!?"  
"THAT COUNTS AS KNOWING SOMETHING!"   
"CAN WE HAVE THIS CONVERSATION LATER?"   
She hops another log before checking over her shoulder. I can't help but peek over too. Luckily, it seems whoever was there is gone now. 

Gradually, Dora slows down from a sprint, to a run, to a jog, until finally she walks a few steps before crouching down and leaning on a tree. Her ears perk up for a moment as she looks around, seemingly searching for something. Satisfied that we're alone, she gets back up, setting me against the tree instead.  
"Ok, I think we're safe now." She seems somewhat less panicked now, but still sounds worried. Not that I blame her; I realize, with some reluctance, that I'm fucking shaking.   
"So seriously, you have no idea what's going on?" I ask.  
"No. I've told you everything I know."   
"You're sure there's no other details you're conveniently forgetting to mention?"  
"Remmy." She replies in a warning tone, hands on her hips. "Believe it or not, I too just woke up from a car crash after being ran off the road, shot at, and chased through a forest. I really do not need this right now."   
"Sorry, sorry." I respond, hooves up in surrender. "I just don't understand, who the help does this kind of thing?"   
"I don't know." She takes her phone from out of her pocket, clicking the power button a few times to no avail. "Shit. It's dead."  
I reach into my pocket for my phone only to realize it's not there.  
"You're sure those guys weren't like, cops or anything?" I desperately try to find some sort of explanation.  
"No, Remmy. They aren't cops."  
"How the hell would you know? You just grabbed me and bolted before they even got to us!"   
"Oh, so you WANTED me to leave you back there, in the middle of the fucking woods at night with some dudes who crashed us into a forest, then shot at us?"  
"Maybe it was an accident-"  
"Your leg is broken, Rem."   
"That happens all the time in car crashes!"   
"Oh and so does pulling a gun, and shooting randomly?"   
"MAYBE THEY SHOT BECAUSE THEY SAW A GIANT FUCKING TIGER CARRYING OFF AN INJURED SHEEP." I shout. "They weren't shooting at US, Dora. They were shooting at YOU. I mean, look at yourself! You're-" I'm cut off suddenly by a loud snarl. I look up to find the tigress staring down at me with several varying expressions that are hard to discern in the dim light. I do manage to recognize the one it finally settles on, though. A look of frustration. A tear begins trail from her right eye as Pandora steps back, her paws clenching into tight fists.  
"Fine." She mutters shakily. "I saved you, and this is the shit I get for it? I'll just leave you then. Have fun being hunted in the deep dark woods alone with a broken leg!" She throws her paws in the air, spinning around. "I'm sure things will go sooooo much better without a big, scary predator looming over you, but hey, what do I know? I'm just a monster who attracts more negative attention!"   
My mistake dons on me all too late as my only friend, and hope of survival for miles trots off into the shadows, muttering something about 'customers' and 'years' before disappearing entirely.  
I can hear a faint sob before all sound dissapeares with her.  
"Dora wait-" I bleat slighty, trying to get up before faceplanting into the dirt. Fear begins to spread through me as I realize how fucking helpless I really am.   
Shit, I really fucked that up.  
She carries you through a fucking forest, and what do you do? You alienate her. Great job, Remmy. Smooth as sandpaper.  
Shit, the word sandpaper makes me think about her...  
I roll over, pushing myself up and scooting back into my place against the tree.   
Shit, this isn't happening. There's no way. Any second now, I'm going to wake up at home. This is just a dream. Just a bad dream.   
I sit quietly, repeating this sentiment.   
Yet, nothing happens.  
Why isn't anything happening?  
I clutch the sides of my head as they begin to sting.   
Pain, that's right. Lots of people need to feel pain to wake up from a dream. Maybe that's why. Yes, that must be it.   
I slam my head against the tree. A few pieces of bark splinter off of it, but nothing happens.   
Shit, that wasn't hard enough.  
I do it again. I receive the same results.   
So I try again.  
And again.  
And again.   
And again.   
Blood begins to leak from the bandage on my forehead, pain swelling within my skull as my ears ring.  
Yes, this it. This is right about the time when I wake up. Just one more time....  
I throw my head back, and it collides with the tree's trunk with a sickening 'crack'. Slowly, numbness overtakes me and I slump forward, onto the ground. My vision begins to fade around the edges, very similar to before. Here it comes. Now, I'll pass out, and when I wake up, it'll all be over. I'm tempted to ask the source of the faint background voices if I'm right, but then I remember that I can't talk anyway. Hah, silly me.

Wait, what?  
If I could, I'd probably bolt upright right now. Sure enough, I can here some sort of faint voices talking.  
Oh hell, what've I done?  
Slowly, the ground begins to sink away from beneath me as I ascend upward by a few feet.   
Oh no. No No No, no.   
"Remmy." The voices say quietly before I slip out of conscienceness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remmy starts to figure out that getting himself knocked out does not lead to good things happening...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to RT Pilon for help/advice behind the scenes. Be sure to check him out, he writes on AO3 just like I do! :D  
> http://archiveofourown.org/users/RT_Pilon/pseuds/RT_Pilon
> 
> Warning to anyone who has any sort of trigger with suicide/self harm. It's brief, but it's there.

If I had known I'd be passing out every five seconds, I'd have asked them to check me for narcolepsy, too.  
But here I am, once again waking up to find myself in unfamiliar surroundings.  
My usual body pains are accented by pressure as my nerves finally begin to function. With regaining feeling comes my eyes opening, and with that comes utter panic as I realize I'm tied down to a fucking tree stump like a bug for disection. The analogy is aided by the fact that a crude, weathered blade of some sort is wedged into the wood beside me. My already clammy body begins to shiver at the sight of the liquid on it that gleams in the moonlight like a crimson pearl. I immediately thrash against my restrains out of instinct despite the feeling of hopelessness rising within me. Some part of me wants to cry out for help, but I know that no one will hear me even if I do, no one will hear me. Dora might, but what's she going to do? She'd have no reason to save me.  
No one's going to save me.  
No one CAN save me.  
"That's not a very healthy line of thought, y'know."

I'm startled out of that depressing line of thought by a familiar voice. I squint into the darkness, and sure enough, a dark-furred outline stands next to me.  
"Betty?" I croak softly.  
"In the flesh." She responds casually as if I'm not tied down to a butcher's table.  
"R-really?"  
"Well, ok, no, I'm a figment of your imagination. You're delirious, exhausted, and so your schizophrenic brain is trying to imagine something to distract you so you can slip off into death peacefully."  
My breath hitches and my stomach begins to lurch.  
"Pretty awful, right?"  
I stammer for a few moments, both logic and instinct failing as my brain begins to work against itself.  
"N-n....no. No. No way."  
"Yup." The timber wolf crosses her arms. "That's just what's happening right now."  
"No, it can't be."  
"Well, until you decide to get up and DO something, that's just the way things are."  
"WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO." I shout nervously. "I'M TIED THE FUCK DOWN RIGHT NOW."  
"Easy." She responds. "Those ropes are connected to stakes in the ground. You've already shaken them loose a bit. Just shake them some more."  
Before she's finished speaking, I wiggle again, and the ropes slacken suddenly, much to my relief. I laugh a little bit as a sense of hope begins to return. Sitting up, I stretch a little bit.  
"Grab that too." She gestures to the blade. "You'll need it."  
I stop suddenly, her tone putting me on edge once more as I reluctantly take hold of it. It pops loose with relative ease, seemingly slicked by the liquid I'm desperately hoping is not blood.  
"What now?" I manage, testing the blade's weight in my hoof.  
"Now," she slowly rises, in an almost paranormally smooth and effortless manner. The moonlight slowly begins to fade as her form shifts back into the shadows.  
"You RUN." 

I fall backwards, bleating with fear as larger, different, and definitively more real shape lunges towards me with a deep snarl. I thud against the floor and the air leaves my lungs. A large claw digs into the wood where I would have been a second ago, shredding it like paper.  
I crawl backwards, heaving out breath after breath as the figure struggles to remove their claws from the now splintered stump. They let out an aggravated roar as I sink into a bush, tumbling down a steep incline. The sound fades slightly, and I turn, coughing as I continue to crawl forward, blade in hoof. I take hoof full of dirt after hoof full of dirt, dragging myself with everything I have in a desperate attempt at escape.  
I'm reward by silence. 

I turn around, pushing myself up and against a tree for support until I'm finally in an upright position. Tears spill from my eyes, intermingling with the dirt and sweat covering my face. My breathing slowly calms, and my hearbeat slows. That thing...whatever it is....it's still out there. But here I am.  
Leaning against a tree.  
Taking my sweet ass time.  
I try to lean forward, but a rough chestnut paw pins me back to the tree.  
"Easy now, fluff."  
Oh god not again.  
"Betty?"  
"Try again." Avo remarks, sitting down across from me.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" I question. She laughs a little bit.  
"I'll be real with you Remmy. You're dying, here. That was a nice little attempt there, but your little burst of determination sapped you of whatever energy you once had. You're starved, dehydrated, and bleeding out. Plus there's the big 'ol monster out there some where. Point is, you're fucked, so your subconscious has created an image of me to break it to you."  
I stare at her in disbelief.  
"Ok, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."  
"Yup. Says it right here in the script. Look." She holds out a piece of paper that wasn't there before for me to read. Written on it in messy red pen is;

'Cormo slumps against tree.'  
'Cormo sees hallucination'  
'Cormo dies.'  
'Painfully.'  
'THE END.' She cackles loudly upon seeing my discomfort.  
"Ok, very FUCKING funny." I comment, crumpling the paper up and tossing it at her. It disintegrates mid-air before it can reach her.  
"Hey, don't blame me. You're the one who's deciding how this plays out."  
"How so?" I question.  
"Think about it real slowly, fluff." She points towards my hoof. I look down to find I'm still holding that blade from before. My stomach twists as I suddenly catch her meaning. I look back up to find that Avo's gone. Her laughter echoes through the space around me once more before it goes with her.  
No, this has gotta be a bad dream. There's no way....  
The memory of Betty telling me that I'd 'need it' suddenly resurfaces. I clutch it a bit tighter in my hand.  
I'm definitely dreaming. I'd never stab myself in reality, so naturally if I do it while I'm dreaming I'll just wake up, right? Right, of course.  
I stare down at the blade. It quivers in my hoof, almost as if it's excited. It seems to almost be welcoming me. My way out. This is it, right? Ha, looks like not even my own brain can pull the wool over my eyes. (No pun intended.)  
Blood slowly begins to materialize on it. Almost as if it's trying to tell me what it wants. Aw, poor guy must be thirsty. Who am I to deny a friend? After all, it's helping me out anyway. Not like I'll need my blood when I'm dead. I raise it over myself, and more blood begins to appear. Huh, I haven't even cut myself yet. I have no idea where the hell this blood is coming from-  
Right up until a drop of it lands on my nose. Startled, I drop the blade before looking upward into the canopy of leaves. I can barely make out a vague shape in the moonlight.  
Round, almost like a bag. Seems to be hanging. A stain pools at the bottom of it.  
Wait.  
WAIT.  
OH.  
I bleat in panic as the blatantly obvious corpse-in-a-bag drips blood onto me once again. I wipe it off in a panic, attempting to stand up but falling over and bumping into an even more low hanging one. I fling myself away from it, looking up to find that roughly 5 of them are scattered across the branches.  
I stop suddenly as my hoof brushes something on the ground and I notice a 6th, empty one lies on the ground before me.  
No.  
NO.  
I back away once more, to.bump into yet another body. 

Only this one's alive. 

Warm breath flows down my back as a large, rough claw lifts me from the ground. I'm spun around to find myself face to face with a set of sharp, abundant teeth stretched into a familiar, yet sickening smile.  
"REMMY." A voice almost shouts.  
A pair of eyes greet mine for a moment before I'm suddenly pressed against a warm chest and for a second, I think that I'm about be crushed to death, until I hear purring.  
Purring?  
After a moment, my captor holds me out at armlength, and they frown suddenly.  
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"  
Dora?  
"What the-" I manage before she begins to talk over me.  
"You can't just leave like that!" She reprimands, almost as if she's talking to a child. "I was worried sick! And just look at you!" The tigress shakes her head before taking us away from the site of my newest nightmare. I glance back, but new trees begin to block my line of sight as we leave.  
"Seriously, what the hell were you doing?" She demands, looking down at me.  
"I...I thought..." I pause for a moment, trying to fully comprehend what's just happened. "I thought you wanted me to leave..."  
"What made you think that?" She asks.  
"Well, you left, and you seemed really angry, and you said-"  
"All I said was 'wait here. I'm going to bring back some water.'" She stares at me, seemingly just as confused.  
"O-oh." Did I hallucinate that? Jesus, what if I'm still hallucinating now? Can I have hallucinations inside hallucinations? This is confusing. I'm starting to think this might be beyond just normal schizophrenia...  
"What'd you think I said?"  
"I was probably just hallucinating." I start. "But, we had this argument and I may have let slip a mean comment and you said I'd probably be better off without you, and-"  
"Seriously, do you hear yourself right now? I wouldn't just leave alone out here. You're pretty defenseless, dude." She stops for a moment before adding "No offense."  
"Pfft. Thanks, Dora." Surprisingly, I laugh a little. "Probably just hallucinations." Well, good to know that didn't happen.  
Although....  
"Speaking of which, did I hallucinate the part about someone shooting at us too?" I ask.  
"Oh, uh..yeah. I'm pretty sure nobody was shooting at us, Remmy."  
"Huh. Ok. That's good."  
"Yup." She gives an akward sort of half chuckle, and we sit in silence for a moment.  
"Maybe you should get some sleep now." She suggests.  
"I'd rather not, if it's all the same."  
"Suit yourself." She shrugs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait.  
> Again.  
> Life's been tough lately.


	3. Deer in the headlights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the second to last chapter of this entire series.

"So,where are exactly are we headed?"  
From my vantage point of under Dora's arm, I can see a whole lot of absolutely nothing ahead of us. I mean, there's trees, and some shrubbery here and there, but that's about it. And even if I did have a better view, I doubt I'd see anything different.   
"Out of here, for starters." She responds. "If memory serves, we crashed a little bit north of here."  
"Really? How do you know?"   
"My phone." She shrugs.   
"Wait, I thought you said your phone was dead..."   
"Did I?" She gives me a dubiouslook before reaching into her pocket with her free paw.   
"Last time I checked, it w-" She stops, clicking the power button a few times. "Oh, shit."   
"It's dead, isn't it?"  
"Yeah, it's...somehow dead. It was a 65% when I went looking for you. I even turned the GPS off."  
"Are you sure?" She gives me another confused look before putting the phone back.   
"Y-yeah, I'm pretty sure. But, I could've forgotten.....oh shit, I probably did. But could a GPS even drain a battery that fast?"   
"Depends, how long were you out looking for me?"   
"A few hours, I think."  
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. You're saying it took you a fee HOURS to find me? As in, 60 minutes per hour?"   
"Sounds about right."   
"But how!?"   
"Hey, don't ask me! I'm just as lost as you are."   
"Ok, but how far could I have gone with a broken leg?"   
"I don't know! Look, I probably got lost on the way back, or something like that."   
"Wait, but didn't you have your phone?"   
"Yeah, but I don't just bookmark every every little spot I stop at! Look, can we focus on getting back?"   
"Right. Priority number 1 is getting out of here."   
She takes a bit of a breath, increasing her pace slightly.   
"Wait a second, what happens when we get there? Isn't the road really high up?"   
"Cormo, you reaaally aren't making this easy."  
"Sorry, Dora."   
"I'm a Tiger. I'll just climb a tree or something."   
Oh right.   
"Do we just hitch hike at that point?"   
"I guess." She scratches the back of her head. "Look, can we just cross that bridge when we come to it?"   
"That's just it though. What if we never even get there? Your phone died, how do you even know this is North? And what if you're remembering the directions wrong? This place is uninhabited."   
The tigress stops dead. She takes another deep breath.   
"You know what, I think we should just sit down for a minute." She drops me rather unceremoniously on the ground in front of a tree, then leans back against a tree of her own, and slumps to the ground, facing me.   
With all conversation now gone, and both of us sitting down, the only thing to fill the silence is the sound of labored breathing. Glancing up, I find pretty quickly that it's coming from Dora herself. This is the first time I've gotten a good look at her without thinking I'm mortal peril.   
Being out here's really started taking it's toll on her. Her once neatly groomed fur is now matted, and stuck together by dried sweat. Her eyes seem sunken into her skull, and her shirt's been stained with mud, and some other liquid I can't identify. How could any of that have happened?  
"Hey..uh..Dora?"  
"Yes?" I flinch a little bit at her sudden, annoyed tone of voice.   
"How long have we been out here?"   
Her gaze shifts so that she's staring directly into my eyes. My hooves reflectively clench and unclench. I feel unnerved, more so than I normally would. And somehow I can't seem to break eye contact with her. She just sits there, continuing to stare at me in silence. If I wasn'talready soaked, I'd realize that I've started sweating again. It's almost as if I've been put into some sort of trance. My whole body is numb. I can't move. There's just something about that stare....  
"I don't know. Days, probably."   
And just like that, it's over. She blinks, and I gasp softly. I was so petrified I forgot to breath.   
"Hey, you alright Remmy? You look like you've seen a ghost, or something."   
I think back briefly to the hallucinations of Avo and Betty. Technically, she isn't wrong.   
"Yeah, yeah. Just...got lost in thought for a second there." She nods quietly. "How about you?"   
"Just tired. We're fucking lost out here, and I haven't gotten a chance to eat or sleep the entire time."   
"Jesus..."  
"Yup. No phones. No maps. Not even a car. We're Stranded, and for who knows how long."  
"There's seriously nothing we can do?"   
"You got any ideas?" The tigress scratches the back of her head lethargically.   
I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. I really don't have any more of a plan than she does.   
"I mean, I guess we could just keep walking...."  
"And what, hope we just randomly stumble across something?"   
"Hey, you said it yourself. It's all we got."  
"Cormo, my paws are KILLING me. I know that I'm in great share and all, but I've been walking almost non stop the time we've been in here. And most of the time, carrying your puffy ass around, too."  
"Hey! My leg's broken, what do you want me to do, crawl?"  
"You could at least use a stick as a cane or something!" "See any good sticks nearby, then?"   
Dora's eyes widen slightly, as if she didn't expect me to actually consider it. She glances around for a moment before sighing.   
"Touché."   
"Besides, I'm not THAT heavy, am I?"  
She glares at me in response.  
"Right. Nevermind." Note to self: Remember to quit while ahead.   
We sit in akward silence for a moment before I finally speak up. "There's still that idea about walking some more. The longer we wait here, the hungrier and more exhausted we'll get."   
For a second I think I'm just going to get another glare, but she nods, and stands up. Albeit begrudgingly.  
Pushing off the tree, I do the same.   
Suddenly, she IS glaring at me.   
"What?" Did I fart on accident or something? That's a weird thing to stare someone down over...  
"Did you just..." Her breathing slowly starts to speed up. Her lips curling as her growling slowly crescendos.   
"Did I just what? D-dora you're kind of freaking me out here." Flashbacks to when I first woke up here replay in my mind. That same urge to run pushing it's way to the forefront of my mind.   
"Your leg."   
What about it? Is something wrong wi-  
Wait.  
...  
Oh.   
OH.  
CHRIST.   
MY LEG WAS BROKEN. IT WAS BROKEN AND NOW IT'S FINE.   
"You've been making me carry you around, in the middle of the goddamned woods, AND THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME, THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR LEG. IT WAS FINE. ALL ALONG!" She slams her fist into a tree trunk out of anger. The thick bark splinters under the blow.  
"D-Dora, I-"   
"I'VE BEEN AT THIS FOR DAYS, WITH NO FOOD OR REST, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOUNGING AROUND WHILE I CARRY YOU LIKE I'M SOME KIND OF SERVANT!"  
Cursing a bit more she turns away from me, grasping the sides of her skull in each paw. She struggles to combat the extremely evident rage. Some part of me wants to run. Another wants to try and apologize. And yet another doesn't understand what's going on. I can't seem to come to any conclusion as to what's happening. Are the hallucinations really that strong?   
Of course they. Especially with what happened to my arm...  
Wait....what did happen to my arm? As far as I know it's just scraped....  
Still. This entire time, I've thought it was broken.

It takes me a moment to realize that Dora's calmed down. She's hunched over by the tree, leaning against it with one arm. Her breathing is still heavy, though. She has her back turned to me.   
Tentatively, I take a few steps forward.   
"Hey, are...are you alright?"  
She doesn't respond.   
I take a few more steps forward until I'm within arm distance. Her breathing is only louder up close. Which makes sense,of course.   
I reach out and place a hoof on her back only to quickly jerk it away when she tenses up. For a moment, I'm tempted to reach back before she speaks.   
"Go." Is all she says.  
"Pardon me?"   
"I said go. Get out of here. LEAVE. How much clearer do I have to be?"   
"Whoa, Dora, wa-"  
"GO!"   
She finally turns around, knocking me over with her arm as she does.   
"JUST GET OUT OF HERE. GET OUT." She takes a step forward, and within seconds I've pushed myself to my feet and begun sprinting in the opposite direction. Although my leg isn't broken, it's still injured. The bleeding may have stopped but it still pains me just to put weight on it, let alone sprint.   
But the fear is enough to push me through the agony. 

The sound of shrubbery crunching only adda to my terror. There's no way I can make it. I'm injured. She's not.   
I pick up my pace, at the protest of my body. I can consciously feel what little energy I'd retained being sapped from me with each step. My lungs begin to burn, only adding to the pain.   
Slowly, despite my efforts, I start to fall behind. The footfalls behind me becoming louder and louder.   
It's over isn't it?   
As if fate itself was answering my question, my hoof catches on a tree root, and I find myself being flung forward onto my stomach. I want to get up, but can't seem to muster the strength. So I crawl. I crawl forward, dragging myself across the rough asphalt bellow me. The footsteps finally catch up, stopping at what sounds like right behind me. I find myself being yanked off the ground by the back of my shirt. But before it can go any farther then that, a bright light completely obscures my vision.  
"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?" The voice sounds familiar.   
Velvet....?


	4. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behold, the final chapter. It's pretty short.

I don't need to see Dora's face to know she's just as caught off guard as I am by the sudden light.  
"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?"  
A loud voice reprimands from somewhere beyond the light. It sounds familiar.  
My suspicion is confirmed as my eyes slowly adjust to reveal Velvet, standing next to a car. That explains the light.  
Dora and I both struggle to find some sort of short answer. How does one summarize "Our car crashed, we got lost in the woods, and then had Dora chased me through the woods until we ended up on the road"?  
Oh. Like that, I guess. 

Wait.  
Road.  
I look down for a moment, and sure enough, instead of a dirt floor, the ground below me is asphalt.  
ROAD.  
Velvet, Car, Road, we're saved!  
By accident, I laugh giddily. It's finally over. It's done. Velvet clears her throat in an exaggerated manner, reminding us of the question, but I'm not the one that answers.  
"Look, we've been trapped out here a long time. Car crashed, Cormo's still bleeding, I think... can we just get out of here and we'll explain when we're back?"

"Remmy, who is this!? Do you know them?"  
"Oh. Yeah, uh, Velvet, this is Dora.Dora, that's Velvet. There, we good?"  
"Why are you holding him like that?"  
"Oh, he tripped."  
Once again, she's technically not wrong. I did in fact trip while running for my life.

"Alright, Alright. Get in. No clue what you're doing out here, but at least you're safe."  
Relieved, Dora sets me back down and heads for the car.  
She pauses at the door.  
"Wait a second."  
"What is it?"  
"Crap. I don't know if I'm gonna fight inside here. This is a pretty small car."  
"Can't you just lie down or something?"  
"I can try, I guess."  
With no small amount of effort, the tigress manages to squeeze herself into the entirety of the back row of seats by curling into a ball and lying on her stomach.  
Suppressing a laugh, I hop into the front passenger seat.  
Velvet doesn't do nearly as well at hiding her amusement. 

"You comfy back there?"  
"Oh haha. Just get us out of here."  
"C'Mon Dora, seat belts first."  
"You know I can'treach my seatbelt but I can still reach you from here, Cormo."  
"Ok, ok, nevermind." 

Finally, the car starts, and the road begins to move beneath us. I look out the window at the spot where we stood moments ago, lost. It feels like we were in there for way longer than days. My mind flashes back to first waking up after the crash.  
"Hey, what about your Car, Dora?"  
"Forget it. I'll have Triple Z get it, or something." 

The growling, my leg, that mysterious figure.  
Something thumps softly against the back left window. A stain of some sort's appeared in the middle of it. It's small, and seems to be....purple? It's hard to tell in the darkness.  
"What was that?"  
"A bug just flew into the window. Why?" Dora gives me a confused look.  
"Oh. Nothing, guess I'm just a bit jumpy."  
"I know that feeling."  
I stare out the window next to me, and notice that the trees have slowly started to thin out. We're probably nearing the end of the forest. 

Something thumps against the car door. The same one who's window got hit.  
"Gee, lots of bugs out tonight."  
It hits again.  
"Ok, hold on, that has to be something."  
It impacts one more time, and suddenly the door springs open.Dora, in her akward angle, leans over to reach for it.  
"Hold on, I got it!"  
Her paw wraps around the handle, but as she pulls it doesn't come back.  
"I think it's stuck!"  
Velvet turns around.  
"What do you mean it's stuck!?"  
"I mean it's STUCK! It won't move!"  
"You seem strong, pull harder!"  
Dora oblidges, and the door swings shut, but not before some sort of small component springs loose from a socket in the doorway.  
"Uh oh. What was that?"  
"Probably nothing I can't replace la-"  
"VELVET THE ROAD." In all the commotion, Velvet forgot to look back at what was happening ahead of her.  
"What?"  
"YOUR HOOF IS STILL ON THE GAS!"  
"IT IS!?"  
"YE-"  
I'm cut off by a loud screech as the car spins off the road. We crash headfirst into a tree. My head jerks forward, and my eyes snap shut as my seatbelt snaps off, and suddenly I'm flying out of the shattered windshield. 

Somehow, I seem to freeze in midair. As if all momentum's gone. Not even gravity effects me. I'm just sort of....floating. I open my eyes, but everything is dark. Almost as if I hadn't opened them at all. I findmyself paralyzed as I float through this black abyss. The air has been sucked from my lungs, yet I feel not pain, and no need to breath.

Vaguely, I can hear voices echoing through the void. 

"He's down."  
"Define down."  
"He's knocked out. The crash got him good."  
"Wait, I think his hoof just twitched."  
"Shit. Ok, this was fun, but I'm out of here."  
"Ditto."  
"Hey, wait! You guys were just as much a part of this as I was!"  
"Eeeeh, not quite."  
"Oh don't you-"  
"Technically, you're on the bottom of the chain here. Sorry, but you're the one who's gonna break it to him."  
"Oh, fuck you."  
"Hey, remember to leave us out of it when you tell him what happened."  
"Like hell I wil!" "Yeah yeah, let's just-"  
"He's waking up! Go go go!"

Suddenly, a light flares above me. Feeling gradually returns as it spreads, intensifying until suddenly I'm, once again, blinded.  
My eyes readjust.  
I'm in bed, in my apartment. None of my injuries are present, except for the headache. And even some nausea,too. Great. 

"Heeeey, morning fluff ball!"  
I look to my left to find a nervous looking Avo sitting in a chair next to my bed. "You seem to be better....?"

"Avo, what happened?" I ask dryly.  
"Wellll, ok, so don't panic. But you may have been High, and had a preeeetty bad trip. You were spazzing out a whole lot, and-"  
"High?" What?  
Reluctantly, she holds up a paper bag with the name "Kenny." Written on it in black sharpie.  
No.  
No way.  
"Kenny's stash?"  
"Yup."  
"Christ, what's in there?"  
"Drugs. Let's just leave it at that for now.  
I almost don't believe it.  
The whole thing was fake. All of it. The hallucinations were just hallucinations.  
Geez, that's not gonna help my headache. 

"So I don't actually have schizophrenia?" Avo laughs a little.  
"No."  
"I didn't actually get the lost in the woods?" She laughs a bit harder.  
"No, you didn't."  
"Dora and Velvet didn't actually die in a car crash?"  
"Ok, now you're just making this up. Look, I said I was sorry, ok?"  
"No you didn't!"  
"Oh. Well, sorry. Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got work soon. I'd say that you do too, but....I think this warrants a sick day. Or two."  
"Wait, how did you-"  
"Found this in the backroom." She tosses my phone at me, which I don't really make an effort to catch.  
"See ya around cotton swab." With that, the wolf leaves. 

 

[E N D]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, this series closes.  
> I'm gonna be honest, I didn't really start planning any of this to go this way until around 'Sleep'. I don't remember why I scrapped the original plot to this, but at some point, I know I thought "I wonder just how far I can take Remmy's already excessive fear and paranoia."  
> So, we ended up with this as a result. It was fun to write, and surprisingly, fun to read, judging by how well it did. I'm glad people actually enjoyed it.  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> I had to re-write the way this story went several different times, but ended up deciding this was the best iteration. I'm afraid I may have gotten Pandora a little out of character, because every time we see her in canon Pack Street she's calm and positive. (Except for Savages, of course, but still.)  
> Criticism is appreciated. Thanks.  
> <3


End file.
